Adjacent to the church is a memorial garden with a columbarium for the interment of those choosing cremation.

In more urban, metropolitan areas, pet owners generally choose cremation for their lost companions.

That played a major role in the choice we made, because my mother was the first - in our immediate family - to choose cremation.

For example, in 1973 8 percent of Oregonians chose cremation, versus 68 percent in 2010.

Whatever the reason, more and more people are choosing cremation.

"We are a society of convenience, and if burial isn't convenient people will choose cremation."

Or, Colonel Breen said, the family could have chosen cremation.

Many families choose cremation to honor the wishes of the deceased or to lovingly return their dead to nature.

"A few years ago, the religious people would not choose cremation," Mr. Marquez said.

Or the family could have chosen cremation.